Thanksgiving and the gardener

Gardeners cannot reap what they plant and sow without being thankful. We cannot garden without the sun, rain, wind and even the nighttime. The Thanksgiving holiday is a good time to look at our gardens and be thankful for the bounty.

All living plants and creatures depend on the sun to help them grow and become strong. The nighttime can be a time of rest or for some plants just what they need to continue growing. Think of all the flowering plants that only give out their scent in the evening under the cover of darkness.

Rain is a commodity that is indispensible to the gardener as he gardens or when he is thirsty. Rain fills the rivers, creeks, ponds, oceans and sustains the world in their needs to have liquid for cleansing and water for food crops or to feed themselves and have water for their livestock. Where would we be without incredible sea creatures to enjoy or fish to eat? The world needs clean water and air. Rain serves to cleanse the air of pollutants. Pollen is a big factor to people suffering airborne allergens. Rain washes away many of those pollutants.

When the wind blows it is hard to garden but without wind stirring around to pollinate the crops and flowers they will not produce. Bees pollinate as well and we cannot do without insect pollination. The wind does more than pollinate it also produces power in some areas.

Darkness of the night serves to give us time to rest and perhaps contemplate what activities will need to be finished during the next day. Rest is important to plants as well. There are plants that need spells of darkness in order to produce their fruit. The Thanksgiving and Christmas cactus are plants that need a bit of darkness in order to set bloom as well as the Poinsettia plant we see so often during the holidays.

Being thankful as a gardener is not hard. All we need to do is say thanks each time we reap the harvest of our vegetables or the beauty of our flowers.